Troy Carter talks distribution and the ‘false narrative’ around DIY artists
He’s been Lady Gaga’s manager and Spotify’s global head of creator services, but Troy Carter is now co-founder and CEO of Q&A, a new music company focusing on distribution, management and label services for artists.
Today, he was also a keynoter at the Midem industry conference, interviewed on-stage by journalist Cherie Hu. The conversation saw Carter explaining why he’s launching a company in the distribution space, at a time of intensifying competition and consolidation there.
“The distribution space is definitely interesting. Actually, prior to me going in to Spotify I had been looking at it, and seeing where the white space was: and seeing there were a ton of gaps. A lot of the distribution companies were like black holes where artists put their music into these pipes, and don’t know what comes out the other end,” he said.
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Source: Music ally
Next for music subscriptions: new markets, diversity and rethinking value
The music industry made around $7.1bn from streaming subscriptions in 2018, according to industry body the IFPI. That was 32.9% year-on-year growth, with subscriptions generating 37% of global recorded-music revenues. How can the music industry (and the streaming services) build on that growth in the coming years? What will drive the next spikes in paid […]
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Source: Music ally
What’s next for smart speakers? Metabait, Antitrust and ‘limitless’ discovery
According to research firm Strategy Analytics, 86.2m smart speakers were shipped in 2018, up from 32m the year before. Meanwhile, rival Canalys reckons that the global install-base will be 207.8m by the end of 2019. Oh, and the same company thinks that China has just overtaken the US as the biggest market for these devices.
So much for market stats, but what’s coming next in terms of the features for smart speakers, and what that means for how we interact with music and musicians through them? A panel at the Midem conference today offered some predictions.
The panelists were Scott Ryan, VP of Nielsen Music / Gracenote Music; Darryl Ballantyne, CEO of LyricFind; and Benoit Rebus, head of global innovative partnerships at Qobuz. Tag Strategic’s Ted Cohen moderated.
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Source: Music ally
Are Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube the new record labels?
Spotify is signing direct licensing deals with some artists and testing the ability to allow others to upload directly to its platform. YouTube and Apple Music are creating content and putting marketing budget behind artists. And Apple Music has also acquired Platoon, the British startup which helped a number of emerging artists to develop, including Billie Eilish.
Are streaming services turning into record labels? Or at least providing more of the services that used to be the sole domain of labels? And if so, what does that mean for artists, not to mention labels? A panel at the Midem conference this morning chewed over the implications.
Speakers included Marie-Anne Robert, global head of artist development at Believe Digital; Scott Cohen, chief innovation officer, recorded music, at Warner Music Group; Diego Farias, CEO of distributor Amuse; and Martin Nielsen, CEO of African streaming service Mdundo. Veva Sound’s director of industry relations Helienne Lindvall was on moderation duties.
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Source: Music ally
Gully Boy inspiration Divine talks hip-hop, India and independence
The film Gully Boy has been a huge hit in India, and it’s also reflected the emergence of an exciting new independent hip-hop scene in the country – something journalist Amit Gurbaxani wrote about for Music Ally in September 2018.
Gully Boy is inspired by real-life rappers Divine and Naezy, and Divine (aka Vivian Fernandes) was on-stage at the Midem industry conference this morning, to share his views on Indian hip-hop.
He was joined by Priyanka Khimani, founder and partner at law firm Anand & Anand & Khimani, and Kataria Chaitanya, business head of Gully Gang Entertainment. The moderator was Outdustry MD Ed Peto.
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Source: Music ally
Music streaming in 2019: radio rivalry, Spotify sustainability and ‘west versus east’
Streaming was the big driver behind the recorded-music industry’s 9.7% growth in 2018, according to the IFPI. In fact, streaming revenues grew by 34% to $8.9bn, accounting for 47% of the global total. At the end of 2018, there were 255 million users of paid streaming subscriptions, up from 176 million at the end of 2017.
This was the backdrop for the opening session at the Midem conference’s ‘streaming summit’ this morning, with Midia Research’s Mark Mulligan presenting his take on how streaming has been growing – both in mature western countries, and ‘high-potential’ markets like China and Latin America.
“There’s a real danger about looking at the future and just thinking it’s going to be a bigger, brighter, shinier version of today,” said Mulligan. “It’s a really important time to think about what’s coming next.” He noted that just before the recorded-music industry embarked on its decade-plus decline 20 years ago, the industry’s revenues and growth looked as rosy as they do now – fuelled then by CD sales, and now by streaming.
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Source: Music ally